The Privilege of Service Clarke family's gift to support Law School financial need

Peter Jetton
September 13, 2024

“In my mind, there is no better way to ‘repay’ W&L for the education that I received than by creating a scholarship in my grandparents’ memory that rewards deserving students and provides them with similar opportunities to those received by my grandfather and me at W&L.”

Penn Clarke ’13L

From the professors who encouraged him to think intentionally and with purpose to the judicial externships that honed his legal acumen, Penn Clarke ’13L puts tremendous importance on his experience at Washington and Lee School of Law.

“In small classroom settings, surrounded by peers who supported one another and professors who encouraged an environment of intellectual honesty, I received a tremendous legal education at W&L that prepared me for the practice of law and helped me obtain my first legal job that has propelled my career as a lawyer,” says Clarke.

To recognize this impact, Clarke and his wife, Amy, have pledged $100,000 to endow the Gertrude A. and Louis P. Turpin ’33 Scholarship, which will be awarded to a law student, based on demonstrated financial need, who has exhibited traits of character, leadership and outstanding achievement or high potential. The scholarship is named in honor of Clarke’s grandparents, whose legacy of service and connection to W&L made a profound impact on his life.

Louis P. Turpin enrolled at W&L on a scholarship during the Great Depression. He later served in the United States Navy during World War II, taking part in five different invasions on board LST-632. Clarke’s grandmother volunteered at the Rationing Board in Bedford, Virginia during the war.

“They continued a life of giving after the war, and through their example and that of my parents, I have learned that generosity and service are a privilege,” Clarke says.

Clarke is a partner with Longleaf Law Partners in Raleigh, North Carolina. Before joining his current firm, he practiced in the Charlotte and Raleigh offices of K&L Gates and served as a law clerk to the Honorable G. Steven Agee, United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

While a student at W&L Law School, Clarke served as a Burks Scholar, vice chair of the Moot Court Executive Board and co-chair of the Lewis F. Powell Jr. Distinguished Lecture Series. As an alumnus, he has served as a Law Class Agent, on the Law Young Alumni Council and on the Law Council.

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